So I found a new metric that has been taking up a lot of my brain. I've always wondered about the effectiveness of headlights and how they're measured. I finally found that IIHS does publish stats on this, just like they publish stats on crash-test results. It's just not advertised as much because "5-star Crash Test Rating" is a much sexier ad than "Headlight Illumination Distance". However, as someone who drives predominantly at night, and who would like to invest more into accident AVOIDANCE over accident SURVIVABILITY... well, I'm much more interested in the headlight stats. So, what is a good headlight illumination distance? Manufacturers like Mercedes, Honda, and Subaru have cars that top the list, exceeding 100m of low-beam illumination. Cars with over 90m of low-beam illumination are still considered "very good" in the IIHS's chart.
So, where does my Hyundai Veloster stack up?
178 Feet.
Fuck, okay, first of all, thanks for making me break out a calculator... 2nd of all...
54.25ish meters.
The interstate speed limit is 31.4ish meters per second.
My headlights will illuminate something <2ish seconds before I arrive at that location. Average human reaction time is something like 0.25ish of a second. So I have, at best, 1ish second of braking.
Some people drool over horsepower and torque numbers. I'm left yerning for the potential of two extra seconds of headlight illumination in the dark.
Some notes:
a.) Yes, it's a "Speed Limit", I am well aware that I don't NEED to always be traveling 31.4ish M/s. Different driving conditions require different driving requirements, I am well aware. It's just easier to use the posted speed limit for demonstrational purposes.
2.) this is measured in the amount of flat *ground level* surface that the headlights will illuminate. For instance, if there is a vertical obstruction in front of me, the headlights will illuminate the obstruction at a further distance than what is posted. Also, if the roadway is curving up-hill, the headlights will illuminate further, if the roadway is curving down-hill, the headlights won't illuminate as far.
• Brighter headlights are not, in all cases, better. There are conditions (e.g. snow, rain, and fog) where brighter headlights can actually diminish your visibility.
>>ALWAYS DRIVE WITH YOUR HEADLIGHTS ON. Period. It's not just about making it easier for you to see, it's about making it easier for other drivers to see YOU. Maybe you can "see just fine" as the sun is setting, or in overcast conditions, but your white/black/ dark-(grey/blue/green/brown/orange/red) car might be less visable to others in the waining light, or in whatever backdrop surrounds your car. I can't think of a time driving with your headlights on will make you LESS visable.
63.) I posted this on Facebook, but I'm bored and decided to take it further, into the sim. For those of you who have been complaining about "headlight performance" in-sim, and I've been saying "headlights aren't all the same", this is what I'm talking about. I'm not saying iRacing is right, or wrong, in their modelling of GT3 headlights, I'm simply saying it isn't unheard of for headlights to perform "poorly". It *might* be unreasonable performance for headlights on GT3 cars, but it isn't "unheard of" performance for headlights in general. Headlights for LMP1's aren't neccessarily the same as headlights for TCR. Having headlights does not equal having good night visibility, "Lumens" do not directly, or liniarly, corelate to headlight effectiveness (due to factors like bulb-type, mirror design, and quality, as well as the location of the headlights [width and height], and aim of headlights [some teams will aim headlights as straight as possible to maximize distance, some times will aim the headlights away from each other to maximize the visibility through corners), and also iRacing only has low-beams in-sim, compared to a game like ACC which also provides difference in "endurance" light packages and high-beams.
AsS.) So now I'm on track... first I went to Le Mans. If we assume that the distances are "accurate" and that the "100m" board is literally "100m" from the apex (which it probably isn't and PROBABLY ruins this WHOLE experiment), then from the cockpit you can just make out the start of the white line making it's turn to the right, but I wasn't happy with this because the overhead didn't look like it was reaching the corner, and the night-lighting is throwing everything off. So I fired up Watkins Glen (so now we're talking "feet", btw). It's tough to tell exactly where the headlights stop "illuminating the track", but it appears to be beyond the 300-"foot" board and the overhead seems to concur, about 325-350-"feet" (99-105"m"). I wasn't entirely happy with this, though, as Watkins Glen is up-hill which is best-possible scenario, so next I went to Indy because I'm pretty sure it's as flat as can be reasonably expected. Hullman Blvd, the Backstretch of Indy provided almost the same results, imo, 325-"feet" to 350-"feet", but just to be safe I also went to the oval, and it seemed to be right about 300-"feet", so maybe the back-stretch is slightly up-hill.
666.) So if low-beam headlights are reaching 90"m", that puts them in the neighborhood of "pretty good" low-beam performance. Is it better in real life? Maybe. Also remember these distances all change with factors like elevation. If the track is dropping away from you, the distance will be shorter, if it's climbing in front of you, it will be longer. It will illuminate cones, walls, fences, or other objects further away that it will illuminate the surface of the race track.
I could have cleaned my apartment twice in the time I took to write all this. What the fuck am I doing with my life?
Fuck it. I'm going to bed.
So, where does my Hyundai Veloster stack up?
178 Feet.
Fuck, okay, first of all, thanks for making me break out a calculator... 2nd of all...
54.25ish meters.
The interstate speed limit is 31.4ish meters per second.
My headlights will illuminate something <2ish seconds before I arrive at that location. Average human reaction time is something like 0.25ish of a second. So I have, at best, 1ish second of braking.
Some people drool over horsepower and torque numbers. I'm left yerning for the potential of two extra seconds of headlight illumination in the dark.
Some notes:
a.) Yes, it's a "Speed Limit", I am well aware that I don't NEED to always be traveling 31.4ish M/s. Different driving conditions require different driving requirements, I am well aware. It's just easier to use the posted speed limit for demonstrational purposes.
2.) this is measured in the amount of flat *ground level* surface that the headlights will illuminate. For instance, if there is a vertical obstruction in front of me, the headlights will illuminate the obstruction at a further distance than what is posted. Also, if the roadway is curving up-hill, the headlights will illuminate further, if the roadway is curving down-hill, the headlights won't illuminate as far.
• Brighter headlights are not, in all cases, better. There are conditions (e.g. snow, rain, and fog) where brighter headlights can actually diminish your visibility.
>>ALWAYS DRIVE WITH YOUR HEADLIGHTS ON. Period. It's not just about making it easier for you to see, it's about making it easier for other drivers to see YOU. Maybe you can "see just fine" as the sun is setting, or in overcast conditions, but your white/black/ dark-(grey/blue/green/brown/orange/red) car might be less visable to others in the waining light, or in whatever backdrop surrounds your car. I can't think of a time driving with your headlights on will make you LESS visable.
63.) I posted this on Facebook, but I'm bored and decided to take it further, into the sim. For those of you who have been complaining about "headlight performance" in-sim, and I've been saying "headlights aren't all the same", this is what I'm talking about. I'm not saying iRacing is right, or wrong, in their modelling of GT3 headlights, I'm simply saying it isn't unheard of for headlights to perform "poorly". It *might* be unreasonable performance for headlights on GT3 cars, but it isn't "unheard of" performance for headlights in general. Headlights for LMP1's aren't neccessarily the same as headlights for TCR. Having headlights does not equal having good night visibility, "Lumens" do not directly, or liniarly, corelate to headlight effectiveness (due to factors like bulb-type, mirror design, and quality, as well as the location of the headlights [width and height], and aim of headlights [some teams will aim headlights as straight as possible to maximize distance, some times will aim the headlights away from each other to maximize the visibility through corners), and also iRacing only has low-beams in-sim, compared to a game like ACC which also provides difference in "endurance" light packages and high-beams.
AsS.) So now I'm on track... first I went to Le Mans. If we assume that the distances are "accurate" and that the "100m" board is literally "100m" from the apex (which it probably isn't and PROBABLY ruins this WHOLE experiment), then from the cockpit you can just make out the start of the white line making it's turn to the right, but I wasn't happy with this because the overhead didn't look like it was reaching the corner, and the night-lighting is throwing everything off. So I fired up Watkins Glen (so now we're talking "feet", btw). It's tough to tell exactly where the headlights stop "illuminating the track", but it appears to be beyond the 300-"foot" board and the overhead seems to concur, about 325-350-"feet" (99-105"m"). I wasn't entirely happy with this, though, as Watkins Glen is up-hill which is best-possible scenario, so next I went to Indy because I'm pretty sure it's as flat as can be reasonably expected. Hullman Blvd, the Backstretch of Indy provided almost the same results, imo, 325-"feet" to 350-"feet", but just to be safe I also went to the oval, and it seemed to be right about 300-"feet", so maybe the back-stretch is slightly up-hill.
666.) So if low-beam headlights are reaching 90"m", that puts them in the neighborhood of "pretty good" low-beam performance. Is it better in real life? Maybe. Also remember these distances all change with factors like elevation. If the track is dropping away from you, the distance will be shorter, if it's climbing in front of you, it will be longer. It will illuminate cones, walls, fences, or other objects further away that it will illuminate the surface of the race track.
I could have cleaned my apartment twice in the time I took to write all this. What the fuck am I doing with my life?
Fuck it. I'm going to bed.
